Beauty Farming Life

Changes on the blog!  I figured it's been the same for a year now, it's time for a "fresh coat of paint" (although it looks a bit peeling huh?). And of course, with all the work going on at the farmhouse, why not remodel the blog bit as well? Of course if you are seeing the blog for the first time, you won't know what it "used" to look like, ha. Hope you like this look. We think it's more "farmhousey". So over the next few days, you will seem some changes.  There will be some that are obvious (such as the new background) and some not so obvious.  There are even others that I'm still trying to figure out how to make happen! Until then, enjoy the process!

 Grandpa B 1917-2013 I lost my Grandfather yesterday. Got the call at about 3:30am (boy, nothing good ever comes from the phone ringing that early in the morning does it?). He had recently been diagnosed with pneumonia and was having difficulty swallowing. He was taken to the hospital in Oklahoma City and while he rallied for a couple of days, in the end, he slowly faded from us and died peacefully in his sleep.  I was not able to be there because of the Winter ice storm that is gripping Texas/Oklahoma, but I was able to speak to him briefly and we were able to say our goodbyes.  He told me I was the best Grandson he could have ever hoped for.  And he told me he loved 2nd Man. Forward thinking for a 96 year old. He was my garden guru growing up and one of these days, I'm going to try to find some of the photos of his amazing gardens and my adventures growing up each summer with them and share.  One thing for sure, I know that next S...

30000 Page Views Sometime during the night, we passed 30,000 page views! All we can do is continually say thanks, and please keep visiting. We appreciate you all more than you realize.  Things are just now starting to get exciting for us and we'll have so much more to share.  It'll be lots of work, but we'll share it each step of the way.

I never would have thought, when I started this blog a year ago, that I'd have reached the 500 posts (this morning) milestone so soon.  In fact, even though I started the blog a year ago, I didn't start blogging on a regular, daily basis until about March and yet here where are, the 501st blog post. Each month seems to bring more posts because so much more is happening and I find so many more things I want to share. The blog is so much fun for me.  I can't wait to come up with new things to blog about, and then share them with you.  I try to blog several times a day, always at least once, but more often, two or three times.  Of course now with the major work done at the farmhouse, inside at least, there will be more opportunities for things to share. Don't forget to become a follower of the blog too, we love that!  It means you are enjoying what we are doing and keeps me inspired.  And if you see an ad that interests you be sure and visit...

40,000 Thanks Just a simple 40000 THANKS for 40000 page views! WOW.  Thank you again.

50,000?  Really? Even though I started this blog a little over a year ago, it wasn't until last March that I began blogging on a more regular, usually daily, basis.  So really, in less than a year, you all have visited us more than 50,000 times.  Wow, I can't tell you how much we appreciate it! Thank you!

Hope you and your family have/had a wonderful New Year's holiday.  I chose this image because it reminds me of why we're doing all this gardening and farming, to have, hopefully, results like this! So let's make 2012 the best gardening year ever! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

60,000 page views.  Wow, just wow! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

As of this morning (thank you  ED !) we now have 50 followers on our little blog! I remember visiting other blogs thinking 'how on Earth do they get followers on a regular basis'?  I remember when we had our first few followers and how excited we were.  Then it was 10 and 20 and 30 and 40 and now 50...and we get just as excited about each new one now as we did about the very first ones.  We can't tell you how honored we are that you all want to visit and read about our goings on.  I will take that to mean that I'm writing and posting things that you find interesting and they keep you coming back.  So much has changed over the last year and I can't even imagine how much is going to happen over the next year.  Gardening, decorating, cooking galore! Thank you, each and every one!  We feel like we have 50 new friends! I promise to keep things interesting and informative and maybe even surprising!

WOW...how do we even thank everyone for this? In the last week, our blog has grown exponentially each day with more and more page views. We have 68 followers, there have been 669 posts, over 1200 comments, and as of this morning,  we passed 100,000 page views. Thank you for visiting, and reading our thoughts, plans and ideas. Here's to the next 100,000!

This weekend, my Grandfather turns 95.  Yes, 95 years old! He was born all the way back in 1917. He's in a nursing home in Oklahoma and while physically he's not able to get around very much, his mind is still sharp and he is, occasionally, just as ornery as ever. He is the last of my grandparents so he's kind of special.  Both sets of grandparent's (and both sets of great grandparents) had farms and/or gardens, but he was the one that I spent Summers with when I was little.  I would help him in his gardens and would then help (but mostly watch) my Grandmother canning all of the stuff that he grew.  I can directly relate my want of a small farm/garden to that influence from all of them, him in particular. So this weekend, today actually as you read this, we are driving up there to see him.  It's a surprise visit so I'm sure he will be thrilled to see us.  He may be 95, but he loves 2nd Man as if he were his own.  That...

My posts and replies the last couple of days have been limited, and for that I must apologize.  I have a reason though...I was laid off yesterday. It was not a total surprise, the man I work for is considering retirement, but I thought that if it did happen, it would be later. Sadly, it was sooner rather than later, and I was cut in order to keep things going for a while longer. So I have to look at the positive aspects; I'm getting a bit of severance so that's good, I'm in an industry (insurance) that is pretty easy to find work in and I have 20 yrs experience doing it, but best of all, I'm going to be able to take some quality time and spend it at the farm...  Lots of new pictures and hopefully some major progress soon.

My postings, and replying to comments, have been sporadic this last week, mainly because I've been going through an interview process. To make a very long story much shorter, the picture above says it all! I got the job! Same industry as before, better salary, better benefits, different responsibilities better suited to me...it's the job I hoped I could find when I started looking.  Ironically, I was laid off one month ago today.  I am truly blessed that I was able to find something so quickly when I know that so many others have trouble finding anything at all.  Luckily in my industry (insurance), there are usually lots of openings, it's just a matter of finding the right fit, or being in the right place at the right time. It was a nice, albeit stressful at times, mini vacation I had but now, next Thursday as a matter of fact, I will be starting back to work full time.  I'll get some more pictures at the farm this weekend. It will be nice going out there and no...

When I started this blog, I did it just to document the process of us buying the property and starting to remodel it and trying to turn it into something.  I never thought I'd have anything to say that would get people interested and coming back day after day.  But then I started getting a few followers.  And then a few comments.  And I was thrilled beyond words. But never did I think I'd get 25, or 50 or even 100.  Now, thanks to newest friend Chuck Mallory, we now have 200! A couple of weeks ago, I mulled over the idea of having a giveaway of some sort and I had come up with something.  Now with the 200 followers milestone, I think it's perfect timing. One thing we enjoy are books.  Cookbooks, gardening books, farm books, it doesn't matter, we have a lot.  I figured it was time to pay it forward and share our love of books with all of you.  So for this first giveaway, I'm going to give away a copy of one of our favorite cookbooks. ...

Went ahead and drew a name tonight, just couldn't wait! Drum roll please... The winner of our first ever blog giveaway is... GRAFIX MUSE! Click  HERE  to visit her wonderful blog. And in the meantime, Grafix, email me and let me know where to ship your Farmhouse Cookbook and I'll get that out to you.  Congratulations! Thank you all for your entries. Gosh, I can't tell you how sweet all the comments were and how they lifted my heart.  And thank you to the new followers who became "Friends of the Farm".  Please stick around the best is yet to come! Honestly, I felt guilty just pulling only one name out of the box.  I wanted everyone to win!   So, that being said, watch the blog, because we're going to start something new next month.  I'm working out the details now.   *cough* monthly giveaway *cough*

We interrupt today's Friday Funny feature for this important announcement: We hit a huge milestone some time during the day yesterday. Our unique visitors count pushed past this amazing number, Yes, more than half a million people from all over the world have stopped by because they were searching for something, or saw something that caught their eye.  Somehow, people find their way here and many of you stick around and come back regularly.  I hope those of you who stop on occasion will make us a favorite and keep coming back.  There is always something being posted here.  It might be a recipe, a decorating tip, a random picture, a link to something fun, maybe even a rant about something but I'll always try to give you new content every day.  Not to mention you'll be able to follow along as we turn this land and house into something worthwhile. We've said it before but it's worth repeating again and again...thank you. So, in honor of...

After the recent success of our first ever blog giveaway, and then our 500,000th page view, it got me to thinking.  The purpose of the first giveaway was to thank you, the faithful readers/followers/friends, for your support.  We had fun watching you enter and I'll have to admit, we felt bad that all those nice comments you left us couldn't let you all win, ha. So, without further ado, we have decided to have a MONTHLY giveaway. Yes, monthly! We'll keep the rules the same.  When I post the contest each month, you must leave a comment and be a friend of the farm (follower).  One entry per person.  I thought about just randomly drawing a follower's name each month, but then I realized that someone might not need/want the book that we'll give away so they might not want to be entered automatically.  So, when I post the contest, the only way to enter each month will be to just comment and let me know that you want your name entered.  I'll...

` *301 actually All we can say is thank you! I know it's not 500, or 1000, or more, but when I started this blog on a whim 2 1/2 years ago, I wasn't sure anyone would be interested in our little corner of the world.  So we appreciate each and every one of you, from 1 to 301 and more. I have SO much fun doing this blog, because of you all.   I've got some great plans for it in the coming months, stay tuned. Thank you again!

Today is 2nd Man's birthday! This will probably be the only post today (Saturday) as we are off to do whatever he wants...and he wants to go shopping for stuff for the farm!  Now that we have hot water and all the sinks and plumbing connected, we can start staying out there overnight more often.  Lots of things to buy in order to finish it up inside and make it truly livable instead of just kind of camping out as we have done in the past, ha.  Then it's off to a nice dinner at a new Italian restaurant with some dear friends of ours and tomorrow it's out to the farm to take all the stuff we buy today.. Have a great day doing whatever makes you happy! p.s.  2nd Man is not 25, he's twice, er, um, older than that.  :-)

WOW!  Some how, some way, the pages on this blog have now been visited over  1,000,000 times in just about two years. I get people who email me and ask me how I do it?  How do I get so many hits/page views?  To be honest, I am not really sure.  When I originally set up the blog, I did all the things you're supposed to do to get visible in search engines.  I make my photos searchable.  I use all the right 'tags' and whatever else it is that they suggest.  I did all that so people could find us and all I can really do is hope that people find us and come back because I post things that they find interesting or maybe just want to watch the journey, slow as it may be at times.  I don't always get a lot of comments but many people email me directly and tell me they enjoy reading and really, that's all I can hope for. So I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and just say: I really don't now how else to thank you all for everyth...